There is a concept in the Jewish culture that I want to unpack for us here... the role of the firstborn, or in Hebrew - the behor.
The behor has a special role in the whole family. It is the firstborn son, and he is responsible for some things that the rest of the children are not. First, he is responsible for carrying the family's values to the world. Second, he is responsible for instilling those values in the other children and making sure they uphold those values as they go out into the world. He is able to communicate and convey those values in ways that mom and dad just simply cannot. Third, he is responsible for taking care of mom and dad when they are old. Fourth, he gets 80% of the inheritance. The other children split the other 20%.
My wife and I recently took a trip to Israel. And like most folks that go there, especially for the first time, we took about a million pictures. Some folks we know came to see the pictures and as we were sharing about this place and that photo, my son said, "oh, yeah. that is where 'this' happened or where 'that story' took place."
I have to admit, I was surprised and impressed. I said, "Wow! that is pretty amazing that you remember all that."
He said, "I have to know all this, I am the behor!"
I choked a little. He gets it. He sees and is owning his responsibility to transfer our family legacy to the rest of the family.
There is an interesting Law in Torah that makes no sense at all unless you understand how significant this idea is to the Jewish family.
Deuteronomy 21:15-16 - "If a man has 2 wives, and he loves one but not the other, and both bear him sons but the firstborn is the son of the wife he does not love, when he wills his property to his sons, he must not give the rights of the firstborn to the son of the wife he loves in preference to his actual firstborn, the son of the wife he does not love."
HUH?!?!?!? (I find myself saying that a lot lately) There are so many questions about this law. First, 2 wives? Second, I am having children with the one I do not love? How is that working out? Third, my children aren't just my children? Who their mom is decides my preference for them? ... I am sure your list could go on from here.
This should immediately make us think of a story from earlier in the text. And from a Jewish perspective, that is the point.
Jacob had 2 wives: Leah and Rachel. Rachel he loved and Leah he did not love. But Leah is having children and Rachel is not. Ruben becomes the firstborn son. And he should become the behor of the family.
Now think about this. The behor gets double portion in everything. when the other kids have one coat, the behor gets 2. So, when Rachel finally has a son - Joseph - and Jacob sees that, what does he do? He gives Jacob a second coat. What is Jacob saying? Joseph is the behor!
I wonder how would you feel if you were put in Ruben's position? Resentful? At least! And ultimately we see him try to kill Joseph. And Joseph is thrown into a pit, sold into slavery, thrown in jail, forgotten.
Then the dramatic climax where the brothers are reunited (and it feels so good) =)
How is Joseph going to act? Like the real behor - Ruben? Or will he be the behor he was chosen to be all along?
He forgives. And in an instant we see 2 firstborns giving us an example of what it means to lead the family.
Fast forward 400 years. The children of Israel are getting ready to leave Egypt. They kill the lambs, put blood all around the door, and walk through a bloody door symbolizing their new birth as the behor of all mankind for the Lord God almighty. And they have a decision to make. What kind of behor are they going to be? One that turns their back on their family when things get tough, or one that forgives? We have seen examples of both.
And God takes them to Mt. Sinai. And He says something there to them that is so precious.
Exodus 19:5-6 says, "Now if you obey me fully and keep my convenient, then out of all the nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation..."
As the behor of the nations, you will be a kingdom of priests.
We are given the same precious gift:
1 Peter 2:9 English
Standard Version (ESV)
But you are a chosen race, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may
proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his
marvelous light.
We now join the call of being a kingdom of priests for our God to the world. And that means something. We have a responsibility. We must uphold the responsibilities of the priest to the world.
The priest has essentially four responsibilities, but for the sake of space (that seems to be a theme in all this) we will focus on one - the Priest becomes the representation of their God to the world. Sounds an awful lot like a behor.
Which raises an interesting question that seems to be unrelated on the front end, but absolutely ties in on the back end - Why do we obey the rules?
Think about it. Why do you obey God? So He won't punish you? So He will approve of you? The only way to have these as motivations is to start your story in Genesis 3 (I told you this would keep coming up).
If we start your story in Genesis 1, we start with a God who is wholly enamored with us. He loves us fully and completely. no reservation, no condition - period. He cannot possibly love you more than He already does. You cannot earn God's love or make Him give you special privileges by obeying Him.
So then, why do we have to keep the rules?
Because we are the priests - the behor (The Scripture says that Jesus is the firstborn over all creation now, but that only serves to further my argument in that we are His representations to the world.). We are the ones who are responsible for giving the world an accurate picture of who our God is.
This is who we are: a Chose people, a holy nation, a royal priesthood. And we must tell the world an accurate story of who our God is. I have said for a long time that if people could see God for who He really is, they would love Him. How could they not? But a better question would be - how will they see Him?
People try to come up with all kinds of explanations about who we are. And it influences the Gospel they share (this will be tomorrow's post). "We are all jacked up!" "We are a mess!" "We are sinners!" "We are all so unworthy!"
While at some level these are all true (except for the unworthy part - that will be a post next week), they are not the story that God is telling in His Word.
You are NEVER defined by your past, your mistakes, your shortcomings. You are a priest of the most high God. You are called and full of potential to bring the Kingdom of God crashing into earth. You are endowed with the power that only the Spirit of God provides to be greater in this world that anything that can be thrown at you. You are more than a conqueror! You are a priest of the Most High God. You are chosen - on purpose, not by accident or chance. You are holy - set apart by a peculiar life of forgiveness in the midst of pain, generosity in the midst of takers, and love in the midst of other's selfishness. You are royalty. And the One who holds all authority in heaven and on earth believes that you have what it takes to be JUST like Him.
You are the behor. Both special and noticed in God's eyes, and given a unique role in the rest of creation to tell an accurate story of a God who recklessly pursues us and will stop at nothing to get you to understand that He wants you to realize your FULL created potential and that you are FULL of created potential because He put it in you.
Try not to smile when you realize that the creator of the universe sees you as all these things and so much more. Oh, and by the way, when you and God disagree about who you are, He is right - always.
May you be full of the amazing story of God to the point that it bleeds out your pores and people are smeared with the Grace of God simply because they bumped into you.
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